The Resurrection of Hidan
by homesweethomicide13
Summary: The moment Hidan was resurrected, they knew they'd made a catastrophic mistake. Spoilers for chapter 489/490.


**Title:** The Resurrection of Hidan  
**Author:** homesweethomicide13  
**Rating:** M  
**Pairing:** None mentioned  
**Warning:** Extreme character death, mentions of violence, a few profanities  
**Disclaimer:** Not mine. Except for the idea of completely bat-shit crazy Hidan. That's mine.  
**Summary:** The moment Hidan was resurrected, they knew they'd made a catastrophic mistake. Spoilers for chapter 489/490.

**The Resurrection of Hidan**

Madara gazed upon the five resurrected Akatsuki with something that could be likened to amazement. That Kabuto, a mere follower of Orochimaru, had managed to master this jutsu – not only that, but surpass the previous users – was almost unbelievable. If he had not visible proof in front of him right at this moment, Madara would not have believed it for the world. And yet…

There they were. Nagato, Kakuzu, Deidara, Sasori and Itachi. Revived from the dead, each standing in wooden coffins, looking lifeless but reeking of power. Madara knew that Kabuto had full control of them, that a wave of his hand could send any one of them in his direction with the intent to kill, and thus he was wary. Despite Kabuto's claim that he was here to join forces instead of fight, with such a powerful jutsu under his belt, Madara didn't trust him.

"So, you have resurrected the Akatsuki." Madara murmured, turning his gaze back to Kabuto, who leant against one coffin, a smug smile on his face. His eyes now resembled those of Orochimaru, and it was then that Madara understood how Kabuto had managed this extreme jutsu. He was using whatever power was brewing inside of him – Orochimaru's power.

"I thought you could use some powerful tools." Kabuto shrugged. "And we are quite alike, at least in our plans to destroy Konoha, and take the ninja world for our own. You may have Sasuke, but I have your weapons of war." Madara tensed. So, the medic knew exactly how to play his cards. "Tell me, Madara, how strong is Sasuke against five S-class ninja? How long would he last, now that his sight is quickly fading?"

"You've made your point, Kabuto." Madara growled, fixing his one visible eye on the medic nin. "We will join forces – for now." He paused for a moment, ticking off the Akatsuki members in his head. As far as he knew, Kisame, Zetsu and Konan still remained alive. The Six Paths of Pein had been destroyed, leaving just the frail form of Nagato, who was one of the five in front of him. Marking them off in his head, Madara smiled darkly – though it was lost to Kabuto, who could not see his face. "It seems we are missing one."

Kabuto's smile was evident to Madara even from the distance between them. Kabuto strolled in front of the resurrected Akatsuki, and as he passed each one, he snapped his fingers, and they each raised their heads in turn. Their eyes were black, their bodies pale and cracked, imperfect despite the power of the jutsu. Madara could sense the chakra within them, however, and knew that despite the frail outer appearance, their original power still remained.

"Missing. Yes, you could say that." Kabuto murmured. He stopped in front of Kakuzu, turned to inspect him carefully. "Your ex-partner certainly is a handful, eh, 'Kuzu?" Madara frowned.

"You have resurrected Hidan?" He questioned sharply, ignoring the way Kabuto spoke to the resurrected stitch-nin. Kabuto turned to face him again, that creepy little smile still plastered to his face.

"You cannot resurrect what is already still alive." His tone was mocking. "I did not come straight to you after perfecting this jutsu, Madara. The moment I had these five resurrected, I took them on a little trip to the Nara forest." He strolled over to Deidara, stroked a hand down the blonde fringe. "Deidara blew apart the hole in which Hidan was trapped. I daresay he enjoyed it. Sasori, Itachi and Nagato dug out every piece of that foul-mouthed zealot they could find, whilst Kakuzu stitched them back together."

"So… you used your little pets to put Hidan back together. How resourceful."

"Indeed. Itachi was the one who found his head." Kabuto's eyes twinkled as he fixed them on Madara once again. "Would you believe, it was still ranting and raving? After so long… That was last to be stitched on, of course. Couldn't have him running off with pieces missing…" He paused. "Although come to think of it, that might have been a better idea."

"If you pieced that lunatic back together, where is he?" Madara demanded. "Or is he in another coffin?" Kabuto's mood shifted, and he seemed to become nervous.

"Ah, well. Once we had his body back together, we clothed him, and then stitched on his head. There would be no keeping him still, otherwise." Kabuto was stalling, trying to avoid answering the question. "I turned my back for a moment, and he was gone."

"Gone?"

"Ran off. I sent Kakuzu and Deidara after him, but they returned empty handed. It would appear that Hidan is very fast on his feet, despite not having legs for so long." Kabuto sighed. "I attempted to track him, managed to trace his route through Nara grounds. I found broken shards of his scythe lying on the ground next to one half of the handle. It would appear that he returned to retrieve it."

"Any other signs from there?"

"Nothing. Not a trace. None of the Akatsuki could trace him from that point. It is almost as though he vanished into thin air." Kabuto scowled. "He has escaped us. He is possibly our strongest weapon. We need to retrieve him."

"Then that is what we shall do." Madara paused, considered something. "These Akatsuki puppets of yours… do they only work under your control?"

"Not at all. They think for themselves, act on their own doing. If I signal them with my chakra signature, however, they are programmed – if you like – to obey me." He shrugged. "I felt that it would come in handy if they did not rely on my command."

"Very well. Then perhaps we should search for Hidan."

"I know where he'll be heading, if he has not already been there." Kakuzu murmured, stepping out of the coffin that had contained him. "I know what goes on inside his head. He's insane and unpredictable, but I know him. He has a thirst for revenge – he killed Asuma for cutting off his head. What do you think he is going to do to the one who put him in the ground?"

Kabuto and Madara exchanged a glance that said it all. Their smiles were mirrored as the same plan formed in their heads. With a wave of his hand, Kabuto forced the other resurrected nin out of their coffins, and the coffins disappeared into the ground once again.

"To Konoha?" Kabuto smirked, his Akatsuki puppets gathered around him.

"To Konoha." Madara confirmed, turning in the direction of the Nara forest. "And to Hidan."

* * *

Blood coated everything. It dripped from leaves of trees, smeared over walls and doors, over windows. Any and every surface was painted with the thick, dark stuff. The scent of death hung in the air. The only constant throughout the chaos were a set of footprints in the blood, along with a steady drip of blood beside them.

Kabuto and Madara stared around at the state of the Nara clan district with wide eyes. The other Akatsuki had separated at the forest in search of the insane zealot who'd escaped them. Looking at the scene in front of him, Kabuto knew they did not need to look far.

"Follow the footprints." He murmured to Madara, who nodded once in agreement. They walked slowly, checking all around them every few seconds, muscles tense, chakra churning, ready for a fight if necessary. As they walked further into the district, they began to notice bodies strewn about the place. Huge splashes of blood dripping from the walls on either side of the path they were walking on. Kunai and shuriken littered the ground in front of them, evidence that the clan had tried to fight back, had tried to take down the monster that had fallen upon them.

"They stood no chance." Madara commented, staring at a male body still clutching a weapon in one hand. "Hidan was unstoppable even before he was buried, and he was insane even then. Imagine what the solitary confinement deep underground, for a long period of time, has done to his mental stability." Kabuto did not want to imagine such a thing. "When you stitched him back together, what was your impression of his state of mind?"

"To be honest I paid little attention to that. I was focused more on getting him under control and restrained. If I failed to do that, then clearly I would have failed to notice he was perhaps slightly more insane than before."

"Has it occurred to you, Kabuto, that you may have made a catastrophic mistake?"

"It has indeed."

* * *

Naruto walked casually into Konoha, not noticing at first the strange quietness of the place, or the heavy stench of blood and death. He didn't notice anything until he stepped in a particularly large pool of blood and slipped, landing hard on the ground. That's when alarm bells started ringing. That's when he looked around – really looked – and saw the bodies of his fellow nin sprawled everywhere, covered in blood, all dead or close enough.

His blood ran cold as he got to his feet and began walking again, slower this time, a kunai in one hand. His first thought was the Akatsuki, and those thoughts then switched to Sasuke. Itachi had been capable of slaughtering an entire clan – was Sasuke capable of slaughtering an entire village? Perhaps. His mind quickly jumped to the Hokage, and he ran towards the Hokage's office, his heart pounding in his chest. What about his friends? Kakashi-sensei? Iruka-sensei? Sakura?

He slammed his internal brakes on sharply as a familiar brunette ninja stumbled out in front of him and fell to the floor, grasping at his trousers. Naruto took in the bloodied and torn clothes, the shattered headband, and the red clan markings.

"K-Kiba?"

"N-Na…ru…to…" Kiba murmured, choking on the blood in his throat as he spoke. "R… Run…" Naruto felt fear clench his heart in a tight grip when Kiba's grip slackened and his hand dropped into the dust beside him, his body relaxing as it gave up. Naruto turned to face the direction Kiba had come from and began walking, slowly, cautiously, kunai gripped even tighter. Who had done this? Surely Sasuke would not kill their friends?

There was a figure up ahead, sat on the ground. Naruto couldn't quite make it out from where he was, so he approached at the same slow, cautious pace. There was a weapon balanced over the shoulders, one arm hooked over the handle, holding it in place. The figure's head was bowed, one leg bent at the knee, foot flat on the ground, the other leg bent at the knee, parallel with the ground, tucked underneath the other leg. There was something bulky in the other hand.

"Show yourself!" Naruto demanded, trying to make himself sound braver than he felt. He was trying to work out where he'd seen that weapon before. It was like a scythe, but it had two smaller blades that had jagged edges. As he got closer, he could see that the figure was dressed in the torn remains of a black shirt and black trousers, and was covered in dirt and blood.

Slowly, the figure raised its head of filthy silver hair, and intense violet eyes locked onto his. Naruto shivered, spotting pure insanity when he saw it. There was something very wrong. He had to run. Had to move, get away. His eyes flickered down to the bulky object, and he paled when he realised it was a head. Not just any head, but staring at him with lifeless eyes and a horrified expression, was Shikamaru.

Suddenly, everything connected in Naruto's head. The weapon, the silver hair and violet eyes…

"Hello little foxy." Hidan purred, a manic grin on his face. "Come to play with Hida-chan?" He let go of Shikamaru's head and slowly stood up, wielding his broken scythe in one hand. "Gotta play nice, little foxy. You didn't play nice with Kakuzu-chan." Naruto took a step back, keeping his eyes fixed on Hidan. Hidan twirled the scythe, giggling to himself as he slowly advanced on Naruto. "Come on out, little foxy. Hida-chan wants to rip your pretty little throat out."

"Hidan!" Naruto spun around at the new voice. Kabuto, Madara, and the resurrected Akatsuki surrounded them. Threads shot out from the sleeves of Kakuzu's cloak and wrapped themselves around Hidan's body tightly, pinning the scythe against him. With a feral growl, Hidan twisted, sliced the threads with the top blade of his scythe, and jumped – landing behind Naruto.

"Pretty little foxy go bye-bye." He whispered in his ear. "Pray to fucking Jashin, asshole." Naruto tensed, knowing he couldn't escape. He remembered the jutsu he'd been learning recently, the same jutsu his father had used, and threw the kunai in his hand. His father had been the Yellow Flash, and now he was learning those tricks. Hidan snarled when he realised his prey had escaped, and let out another feral growl when he was suddenly pounced upon, pinned to the ground and restrained.

"What about the Kyuubi?" Kabuto asked, glancing in the direction Naruto had vanished into.

"With no village to return to, and no one to protect him, we'll get him any time soon. Let's get this handful somewhere secure, and then we'll worry about finding him again." Madara muttered, kicking at Hidan, who growled and twisted, trying to bite him. Kabuto nodded, and waved a hand. Kakuzu bent and picked up the writhing Hidan, tightening the bonds with his own threads and pinning Hidan so tightly to himself he could barely move.

Then the unusual troupe began the trek back to a secure location.

* * *

Another great ninja war rages on the land and in the sea, the ten sealed beasts causing chaos and devastating the ninja world. Countless lives are lost, more are sacrificed in order to prevent more from dying. Eventually, Madara and Kabuto are destroyed, and with no base command, the resurrected Akatsuki shut down, retreat. The ninja world begins to rebuild itself, sealing the beasts once again. Nine new hosts will now carry the heroic burden of how they helped to save the land.

But somewhere deep underground, forgotten and alone, a silver-haired zealot silently prays to his evil god, his insanity growing with every day that passes. One day, he will break free. He will take up control of the resurrected Akatsuki, and they will return.

One day.

Until then, he sits in a triangular symbol of blood, in a dark underground cell, his hands clasped together around a makeshift rosary.

"Forgive me, Jashin-sama, for I have sinned…"

* * *

_**Author's Note:** Okay, I know Madara and Kabuto are probably waaaaay OOC but it's actually my first time attempting to write anything with their characters XD And I only really wanted to write the blood-soaked Konoha bit, but I realised I needed a bit more story around it... hence the half-rambling Kabuto-Madara conversation at the beginning XD_

_Gotta love bat-shit crazy Hidan._

_- homesweethomicide13_


End file.
